Sumreen Younas Poet Free verse

THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SAYING “FAVORITE”

By twenty-five, she had stopped saying favorite. 

Not favorite song.
Not favorite place.
Not favorite person.

She had begun to suspect
that life listened
when she loved something aloud.

The friend who saved her the window seat
learned to pass her without slowing.

A number she once knew by heart
became one she taught herself not to call.

Soon she stopped pointing
at anything she wanted to keep.

When people hurt her,
she was slow at cruelty.

The right sentence always came later,
when she no longer wanted to use it.

Theirs came home with her anyway.

Years did not make her harder.
They made every edge easier to feel.

So she learned smaller happiness:

the one unbroken biscuit in the packet,
winter sun on the corner of her bed,
tea still warm when she remembered to drink it.

Then someone kept asking what she liked.

“What is your favorite thing?”

She laughed the first few times.

One evening,
the word came close enough to say.

She nearly said his name.

He once told her,

“I like that you care this much.”

Months later:

“Do you have to care about everything?”

She remembered both.

That night she typed an answer,
deleted it,
and turned the phone face down.

Months passed.

She bought a cheap notebook.

On the first page:

FAVORITE THINGS  

She let the ink dry.

Then wrote:
the first dark circle
rain makes in courtyard dust

She closed the notebook.

The rain was gone by evening.

She did not cross it out.

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment